


Kisses, A Keychain, Confessions

by Toku_fangirl_2015



Series: The Continuing Adventures of Angry Bird Man [3]
Category: Kamen Rider - All Media Types, Kamen Rider OOO, Tokusatsu
Genre: Fluff, Gen, M/M, Mutual Pining, One Shot, Romantic Fluff, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:08:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25916362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toku_fangirl_2015/pseuds/Toku_fangirl_2015
Summary: A one-shot of small moments from the beginning of Ankh and Eiji's relationship.
Relationships: Ankh/Hino Eiji
Series: The Continuing Adventures of Angry Bird Man [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1825666
Comments: 11
Kudos: 22





	Kisses, A Keychain, Confessions

**Author's Note:**

> Thought I'd try something a little different here. There's a bit of implied smut, plus more of Ankh finally accepting that everyone else accepts him. A little bit of angst/mutual pining, but I can't let those two be unhappy for long.

The first time Ankh kisses Eiji, he is tentative. Hesitant.

He has never, in any of his lifetimes, hesitated about going after what he wants. And he _does_ want this, more fiercely than he has ever wanted anything else. But this…whatever it is…is still so new. So fragile. Ankh is half-afraid that going too far, too fast, will make Eiji come to his senses and realize he’d be better off with someone else. And so he holds back.

Eiji kisses him back desperately, like a man in the desert who’s suddenly come across water. He’s spent so much of his life without wanting anything purely for himself. Even when he had desires, they were always related to others. Wanting to please his parents. Wanting to save the world.

Wanting Ankh back.

Well, now he’s accomplished one of those, and it’s better than anything he could have dreamed. He had been afraid to admit, even to himself, the depth of his feelings for Ankh. To have those feelings returned…Well. Maybe it was time to be selfish, after all. And so he lets Ankh feel the full force of his desire. If Ankh decides to change his mind (he won’t, Eiji _knows_ he won’t), it will still be worth it for this moment. This feeling.

Ankh is breathing hard when they separate. He gives Eiji a look that makes everything inside him go loose and tight at the same time. “Looks like you’ve found something to desire after all,” he says.

“Yeah,” Eiji agrees. “What about you?”

His words are both invitation and challenge. And Ankh has never backed down from a challenge.

This time, he doesn’t hold back.

**

One day, Chiyoko hears thumps and shouting from the attic and comes to the (not-unreasonable) conclusion that Ankh and Eiji are fighting. It doesn’t take long for her to realize she had nearly interrupted something else entirely. She never says anything about it, but the next day, she goes up to the attic and begins bringing armfuls of knickknacks downstairs. “We need to clear some space up here,” she says when Eiji asks what she’s doing. “For the new mattress. I’ve been meaning to replace that old one for a while now, and they were having a sale on double mattresses, so I thought, ‘Why not’?” She looks between them affectionately. “Especially now that Eiji-kun and Ankh-chan are back!”

Eiji helps her relocate some of the attic’s collection into the restaurant’s permanent display. The overall aesthetic is even more crowded and eclectic than before. Chiyoko looks around happily and declares that it looks just perfect.

When no one is looking, Ankh piles as much stuff as he can onto the shelf he had been using for a bed. He never sleeps up there again.

Hina carries the mattress upstairs when it arrives that afternoon. It’s not that much bigger than the old one—a double instead of a single—but it doesn’t need to be.

**

Ankh and Eiji have both spent most of their lives being touch-starved. In his first life, Ankh never even noticed. The second time, he actively avoided it.

This time around, he seeks it out. Once he and Eiji start dating, it is though some dam inside him has burst. He laces his fingers with Eiji’s whenever his hand is close enough to hold. When Eiji throws an arm around his shoulders, Ankh leans into him. When Eiji sits on the bed in the attic, Ankh sprawls there on top of him, his legs thrown across Eiji’s lap.

Eiji, for his part, is surprised by how easily physical affection comes to him. His father, cold and distant, would only accept a hug when the cameras were watching, and even that was only when he wanted to be seen as a “family man.” With Ankh, however…maybe it’s because Ankh understands him better than his family ever did. Maybe it’s because, for both of them, this is the first time they’ve felt wanted. Eiji holds Ankh’s hand and kisses his cheek and scoots his chair next to Ankh’s until he’s close enough to lay a hand on his leg. It’s rare to see the two of them together and _not_ touching somehow.

It’s more than the kisses and intimate touches—though there are plenty of those, too—it’s the simple feeling of _belonging_. Of both of them knowing that the other is here, with him. There’s no place either of them would rather be.

**

They both still spend several nights a week at Hina and Shingo’s apartment, often enough that Shingo gives each of them a key. Hina buys keychains to hold them. Ankh’s is a frankly ridiculous-looking little bit of plastic. It is shaped like an ice cream bar, all pastel orange and white, and for some inexplicable reason, it has a smiley face. Ankh opens the package she had it wrapped in, glares at her, and silently vows to never let it out of his possession.

He keeps it in his pocket. Every once in a while, he reaches inside and runs his fingers over it. It is proof that there are other people who care about him, and another place where he belongs. He can barely wrap his head around it.

On the nights they stay over, they all sit together on the futon (still folded up into a couch) and talk or watch TV late into the evenings. It is a tight fit, shoulder to shoulder to shoulder to shoulder, but none of them mind. Ankh and Eiji are always next to each other, but beyond that, the arrangements vary.

Hina hugs them both frequently, sometimes individually, sometimes both at the same time. She never seems to mind when Ankh doesn’t return the gesture.

One day, he does hug her back. She lets out a soft, startled gasp. Mercifully, she doesn’t comment on this new development further.

Shingo likes to ruffle Ankh’s hair. Ankh will not tolerate it from anyone else (not even Eiji, who knows better than to try). When it gets to be too much, he shoves him away. Hina worries the first time they start roughhousing, but comes to accept it. She finally has all of her people together, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

**

Neither of them wants to be the first to say “I love you.”

Eiji wants to say it. But he knows that saying it will create an expectation for Ankh to say it back. And therein lies the problem.

Physical affection is free and easy between them. Verbal affection, on the other hand…

The two of them still argue more often than not. They sling barbs and insults. Anyone who’s known them for longer than five minutes can hear the affection behind it, and Eiji thoroughly enjoys every minute. But Ankh will never be the type to whisper sweet nothings in his ear.

He doesn’t know if Ankh will say it simply because Eiji expects him to. He doesn’t know if Ankh will refuse to say it back.

He doesn’t know which is worse.

It isn’t something that necessarily _needs_ to be said, Eiji concedes. He knows how Ankh feels about him, after all. He recalls the look on Ankh’s face when he told him, “You better not die.” He realizes this is the closest thing to a declaration of love that he’s likely to get.

He decides that it’s enough.

**

Ankh has two reasons why he refuses to be the one to say it first. The main reason, the reason he’d give anyone brave or foolish enough to ask, is pride. He has a reputation to maintain, after all. It wouldn’t do for a (former) Greeed to confess to an emotion as selfless and human as “love.”

He does love Eiji, of course, more than he ever thought possible. He is amazed by it every day. He already knows exactly how he’ll respond when Eiji finally says it.

He begins to wonder why Eiji hasn’t.

And that’s when his other reason takes hold. A nasty little thought, one he would never say out loud, one he can barely admit to himself.

It’s ridiculous, he _knows_ it’s ridiculous. But the thought won’t go away, always living somewhere in the back of his mind.

_What if Eiji won’t say it back?_

**

Eiji begins whispering it to Ankh, late at night, if he’s sure Ankh is asleep. It’s a tiny bit of selfishness, this declaration, and he says it simply because it needs to be said. He doesn’t say it every night, only the nights when he wakes up from a nightmare or because the attic is too hot or because sometimes his body just can’t relax enough to sleep. Ankh sleeps soundly, most nights, and Eiji is glad for his comforting presence.

“I love you,” he whispers, and it’s a secret between him and the night.

**

Ankh goes to get an official ID. Shingo, along with Captain Ichijo, has pulled whatever strings needed pulling to get him registered as an Official Human. He has a birth certificate for ‘Izumi Ankh’ now, listing two parents he’ll never be able to meet, and giving him the same birthday as Shingo. He passes the test for a driver’s license, at the end of an incredibly dull and pointless afternoon spent waiting in line after line. He can’t understand why everyone else is so excited by the little square of plastic he receives with his name and photo.

He scowls when Chiyoko starts to say the occasion calls for a party. Before she can finish, Shingo and Hina are pulling him away, explaining to Chiyoko that they’ve got something special planned at their place.

The “something special” turns out to be nothing more than one of Hina’s home-cooked meals—which she does often when he and Eiji stay over—and a box of his favorite ice candy. Ankh allows himself a small smile. These are his people, and they know him well.

Eiji kisses his cheek and says, “I’m proud of you.”

Shingo calls for a toast as they sit down to dinner. “To our brother, Ankh!”

“It’s official now,” Hina agrees.

The others look at him expectantly.

Ankh scoffs. “It’s not like this changes anything.” Not really. He’s known for a while that they see him as part of their family. It leaves him baffled, but secretly grateful.

_Brother._

Later on, Hina asks him to pass the chicken. He hands her the plate. “Here you go, Nee-san.”

Shingo’s cup falls from his shocked hand and shatters on the floor. Eiji rushes to help him clean up the broken glass.

Ankh carefully files away the memory of Hina’s smile.

**

It is late that night, or possibly very early the next morning. Eiji is quite sure that Ankh is asleep. “I love you,” he whispers.

This time, Ankh stirs. “Idiot,” he murmurs affectionately, still half-asleep. “What took you so long?”

Eiji gasps.

Ankh rolls over to face him. “You know I love you too,” he says solemnly. “Don’t make me say it again.”

Eiji chuckles softly. “I won’t.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote a bit about what Chiyoko almost interrupted...not sure if I should post it, though. If anyone's interested in reading my first attempt at smut, let me know, I guess?


End file.
